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For the past nine years, singer/songwriter Sarah Sharp has been performing with her quintet every Thursday evening at the prestigious Elephant Room club in Austin. The former leader of critically acclaimed swingadelic band Jitterbug Vipers, and a highly respected commercial songwriter with Universal Music, Sharp has an exquisite voice and a cosmopolitan flair for selecting transcendent jazz standards.
“We live for it, and not because it pays many bills,” she says with a wry smile. “My guitar player, the legendary Mitch Watkins, is such an Austin treasure that he only says yes to gigs that have soul in them. At the end of every Thursday he says to me, I always feel better when I’m leaving than when I got here.” People had been asking Sharp to turn her weekly singing ritual into an album for a long time. Then, local guitar hero Eric Johnson stepped in and offered his recording studio. The result is Déjà Vu, a luminous debut that blends nocturnal, atmospheric arrangements with Sharp’s vocal prowess – at turns defiant, accepting, wise beyond her years, blessed with the ability to convey vulnerability through sound.
“I’ve been playing with these musicians for years, and our closeness goes beyond just being like a family,” she reflects. “I would give a kidney to anyone in my band. Months before we made this album, I had the opportunity to record six different dates at the Elephant Room, and I studied every minute of those gigs. That’s how we selected the songs.” If Sharp’s astonishing vocalizing is the centerpiece of Déjà Vu, its 11 tracks provide the wide cinematic canvas on which she traverses a haunting emotional journey. She started performing “Don’t Think Twice” when a former boyfriend developed cancer. He passed away soon after, and Sharp’s reading of the Bob Dylan gem offers a reflection on the disappointment of past relationships, embodying life experience and loss. The graceful dignity of Randy Newman’s “I Think It’s Going To Rain Today,” on the other hand, was embraced by Sharp after the
unforgettable experience of seeing the tune performed by Newman at a private mansion show in New Orleans. Meeting the master himself and sharing a conversation about artistic dreams provided additional inspiration. Sharp’s sensitive interpretation reveals a masterful singer who is now ready to enjoy mainstream exposure. In her hands, The Beatles’ tragic “For No One” becomes misty and cool, and the Cuban nugget “Quizás, Quizás, Quizás” is all playful sensuality. Sharp’s cover of “I’m Beginning To See The Light,” made legendary by Ella Fitzgerald, is agile and sassy, while her radical revision of “The Boy From Ipanema” is an anti-bossa delight. “We were doing a thankless brunch gig,” she recalls. “It was a three-hour show, and by the end of it, there was almost no one there. We randomly thought of ‘Ipanema,’ which I hadn’t sung since college. I asked my bass player, can we do something weird with it? My soul can’t handle playing it like a cruise ship band. We added a trance-inducing bass line, and loved it right away.” Looking to preserve the band’s chemistry, the album was tracked in two days, with additional instruments – an accordion lick here, a touch of cornet there – and a few vocals added later. For the most part, however, Déjà Vu was recorded live on the spot, with one to three takes per song.
“We have an amazing trip to Japan coming up,” Sharp enthuses, anticipating touring to promote the record. “My drummer, Masumi Jones, and I are going to Paris in April. We’re going to try and put a band together over there, so that Paris can become a second home.” A songwriter under contract with Universal Music, Sharp has garnered millions of streams through licensing deals – her compositions featured in commercials for such major brands as Chanel, Dell and Kia. But the release of Déjà Vu reconnects her with the sheer magic of performing in front of a wider audience.
“My kids are now old enough,” she says, underscoring her commitment as a single mother. “I want to play for way more
people. I’d love to do some shows with an orchestra. Traveling with your music to other parts of the world is like running up and saying hello to parts of yourself that you can’t always access. It’s so powerful to integrate them. I’m always striving to become whole while keeping my heart open - living in the flow of what my friends call Sarahdipity.
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